IPL 10 MI vs RCB: Mumbai regains pole position with 5-wicket win

Mumbai: Mumbai Indians (MI) registered a nervous 5-wicket victory in Indian Premier League (IPL) match, handing yet another defeat to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the Wankhede Stadium here on Monday.

MI skipper Rohit Sharma perfectly played the role of mentor in the victory as he slammed a nerveless half-century while chasing a handsome target of 163 runs. He scored 56* runs off 37 balls and decorated his inning with 6 fours and a six.

After Parthiv Patel's (0 off 1) departure on the very first ball of the inning, Jos Buttler and Nitish rana played sensible yet aggressive Cricket to add 61 runs for the second wicket in just 6.1 overs. Buttler went back to the dug-out after scoring 33 runs off 21 balls hitting 4 fours and a six. Rana played a firm knock of 27 runs off 28 balls hitting 4 boundaries.

Kieron Pollard, who had played a match-winning inning of 70 runs in the previous match against RCB, could not do much this time as he got out at 17 runs off 13 balls with 2 boundaries. Krunal Pandya also lost his wicket after scoring 2 runs. Hardik Pandya remained unbeaten at 14 off 9 balls with one six.

Aniket Choudhary, Yuzvendra Chahal and Shane Watson bagged one wicket each while Pawan Negi took two wickets for 17 runs in his four overs.

Earlier winning the toss and electing to bat first, RCB was heading towards yet another batting collapse when Pawan Negi and Kedar Jadhav used their batting prowess to elevate their team to a respectable total of 162/7.

This, however, was their best performance in the past four matches as recently, they have been wrapped up for 49 runs by Kolkata Knight Riders, followed by 134 run all out against Gujarat Lions and 96/9 in 20 overs against Rising Pune Supergiant.

AB de Villiers was the highest scorer for RCB as he scored 43 runs off 27 balls hitting 3 fours and 3 sixes, before getting out in an attempt to accelerate the scoring rate. Opener Mandeep Singh (20 off 14) was the first to depart followed by captain Kohli (20 off 14) and Travis Head (12 off 15).

Shane Watson once again disappointed with his batting as he was cleaned up by Jasprit Bumrah while trying to play a good length delivery across the line.

Wicket-keeper-batsman Kedar Jadhav tried his best to elevate the struggling RCB to a decent total. He hit 28 runs off 21 balls hitting 2 boundaries. Pawan Negi played the essential role in leading his team to a respectable total scoring 35 runs off 23 deliveries, with 1 four and 3 sixes. The duo added 54 runs for the sixth wicket in just 5.5 overs.

Also Read: IPL 10 MI vs RCB: Bangalore sets respectable 163-run target

Krunal Pandya was once again impressive in his four-over spell as he took two important wickets (Head and de Villiers) conceding 34 runs. Mitchell McClenaghan emerged as the highest wicket-taker for MI as he managed three scalps giving away 34 runs in his four overs.

Karn Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah also bagged one wicket each giving away 23 and 33 runs in three and four overs, respectively.

With this match, Mumbai has reached on top of the points table with 16 points in 10 matches while RCB continues to be at the seventh position with just two wins out of 10 matches.